Romo-Williams Connection Remains Faulty

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Television analysts have made a habit of dissecting the on-field relationship between Roy Williams and Tony Romo over the past few weeks, dropping their voices into a serious tone--the kind of voice that Chris Berman used with abandon on ESPN's Sunday morning pregame show, when speaking about Tom Cable's supposedly checkered past--and wondering aloud why they haven't been on the same page.

This is vaguely annoying, if for no other reason than that damned flat I'm-being-serious-now reporter-voice, but it is also a justifiable concern. Perhaps not for the Cowboys, who have discovered Miles Austin in Roy Williams' (literal at first, then figurative) absence, but the connection between quarterback and big-name, big-money receiver is not there, very simply, which makes this a legitimate question to be kicked around by reporter-types.

The Cowboys went looking for Williams seven times on Sunday, by the Dallas Morning News' count, and hit him twice, for a paltry 19 yards and an ugly (but, I suppose, effective) seven-yard touchdown. But more alarming was the way these plays unfolded. Romo missed Williams twice in-a-row on the team's first drive, one high and one, on a slant, behind Williams.

This was a theme on Sunday; for whatever reason--either a bad throw by Romo, or a drop by Williams--there was no rapport to speak of, Sunday afternoon, unless you're referring to that between Romo and Austin. This has left Williams confounded.

"I don't know what it is," Williams said after the win. "We worked early in the off-season, came in a month before everybody, throwing every day. [Romo] throws to me every day and it's just not there right now."

On Sunday, one of the announcers boldly declared Miles Austin as the Cowboys No. 1 receiver du jour; and one would be hard-pressed to argue against this point. So until the connection emerges this sentiment--just like the serious voices--will remain.